Reserve the Astrodome for public use

I’ve gotten good feedback recently on a television interview I did last week with KPRC-TV (Channel2), in which I told reporter Robert Arnold that I was actively soliciting public input on a variety of proposals for the Harris County Domed Stadium — best known as the Astrodome, the area’s iconic and beloved former sports stadium.

I said in the interview that I was hoping to reserve the Dome for public use, including the possibility of converting it into an indoor venue for the area’s many cultural festivals. Houston and Harris County are famous for the Astrodome and for our many cultural festivals.

A number of folks have approached me in recent months about combining the two and using the Dome as a venue for many of the unique cultural, ethnic and community festivals we enjoy here.

And as we saw only too clearly last weekend, we in Harris County are extremely vulnerable to the vagaries of our weather. The International Festival suffered a pretty serious setback with the torrential rainfall we had Saturday. Having the Dome available for such eventualities seems to me a potential solution worth investigating.

Some of the major festival organizers have responded eagerly to the idea in informal discussions, so I’m now soliciting input from other organizers, civic groups, preservationists and the public at large.

At the same time, other groups are discussing museums, planetariums, studios and all sorts of public venues, but having the Dome as a multipurpose facility for everyone to enjoy would be tremendous. Of course, I imagine the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo would find it a useful venue too.

Readers may recall that the Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation has been in negotiations with the Astrodome Redevelopment Corporation (ARC) about ARC’s proposal to convert the stadium into a hotel – an idea that has not progressed in recent months. Although the idea is not dead, we now need to pursue all possibilities.

I don’t expect the county commissioners and I to take any action on the Dome before reviewing the county’s Capital Improvements Program on June 23.

41 Responses

Does the income generated by festivals a few weekends a year offset the cost of powering and maintaining the dome? More specifically, does the city lose more money on a year’s worth of dome upkeep or on a day or two of lost festival income downtown due to bad weather?

Clearly the HLS&R committee disagrees that the Astrodome is fit for competition, as they’re not currently using it and they’ve been (with the Texans) trying to block use of the Dome since it would compete for parking spots. Maybe we should buy and pave the land that used to be Astroworld for more parking? That, too, is sitting idle…right across the freeway.

I’m not normally a “tea party” kind of guy, but I would think those who are might lose a little of the sentimental value after finding out how much tax money it would cost to retrofit the Astrodome to modern standards…much less how much tax money we’re currently paying for it to sit idle in the parking lot while we decide what to do with it. Are the costs associated with keeping it around worth the warm fuzzies we get when we drive past?

If the Dome had been in use for last weekend’s festivities, it would have been evacuated early as the tornado warnings and watches started rolling in. I do not believe there is any use, other than daily and year round, that justifies upgrading, powering and maintaining it. I say put the sentimentality aside, consider the costs short and long term, consider the need to keep it filled or at least active most of the year and then bulldoze it.

It’s a public facility and is unique in all the world. It along with the other event centers make-up the largest facility in the world for events and shows related to animals the four buildings being the Astrodome, Reliant Hall, Astroarena and Reliant Stadium. Built for an original cost of $24 million dollars in 1964, the citizens of Harris County got the payback long ago. The Dome needs to play to top of the line animal events and run by a Convention Bureau bent on nothing but these types of shows. Some of the events might dovetail with the HLS&R’s interests.

One of the advantages to reserving the dome for public use would potentially be its availability as another hurricane evacuation center. I suspect that when public officials finally face the reality of what’s best for protecting this region, large scale evacuations for hurricanes are not physically realistic. “Shelters of last resort” need to become shelters of best resort for those who live in structurally unsound housing, those who lack transportation or have physical limitations. It will take significant time to retrofit schools and other public buildings to accommodate evacuees, so the Astrodome may provide at least a partial interim solution.

I’ve been saying it for a decade, though I’m just one person, that making it a casino/convention hotel is the best way to put it to use. I know it’s pie-in-the-sky to think it would work (since the real only obstacle is getting the Legislature to allow a variance to the anti-gaming laws in this state), but a boy can hope.

The Astrodome is a useless relic. The taxpayers front maintenance costs to the tune of millions an year and EVERY redevelopment scheme relies on additional tax dollars.

Recognize the futility of your position Ed; do the right thing.

Put the property up for sale at a reserve price that will recover all remaining debt. Put that property back on the tax rolls please, enough of this false sentimentality and stupid insistence it somehow be preserved.

I think part of the issues with having festivals in the dome is, who wants to go to an indoor festival? It would seem like more of a boat show if it was held inside the dome. Yes, there is a chance the festivals get rained out but I’d rather spend a weekend afternoon outdoors than inside a cold, dank stadium.

Plus, you’d kill the festivals with the $8 parking. No one would go! I also think having the venue indoors would lead to price increases.

Clearly, the Astrodome has a special place in my heart, as it does for many Houstonians. But more and more, I find myself leaning toward the, “Is it worth it” question.

A multi-purpose building would be wonderful, but at what cost? I’ve heard estimates of $150-$250 million to bring the dome up to a usable stadium — back to what it was. Even bringing the existing building to fire code standards would take millions. In this case, the seats are unsafe, and most of the building is dark and dreary hallways. Yes, you have a beautiful floor exhibition area, and a hundred or so meeting rooms, but again, at what cost?

As for a big, empty area — the main selling point– you still ONLY have 140,000 feet of floor exhibit space (per the website). Yes, that’s a big area, 2.5 football fields worth. By comparison, the GRB has 1,150,000. As for cost, the GRB cost $105 mil in 1987, plus $165 million in 2001 to add 700,000 feet of exhibit space AND a 1,200 bed hotel. Reliant Center has 706,000 feet, and was probably a similar cost.

As others stated — the festivals aren’t a good justification. If the international festival wanted to be indoors, and would have fit in the Astrodome, it could have moved to the GRB or Reliant Center. For the millions in repairs, we would only get a relatively small convention space. If the goal is to get indoor space, we could build another conventon center for the cost of repairing the dome.

That said, I would love something along the lines of the Gaylord resorts in the dome — that would be something different, and something that would justify keeping the dome. But if the best reason for keeping the dome is an indoor meeting hall — it’s fate is sealed. We need to do something to truly honor the dome, it should make way for something else.

Does the income generated by festivals a few weekends a year offset the cost of powering and maintaining the dome? More specifically, does the city lose more money on a year’s worth of dome upkeep or on a day or two of lost festival income downtown due to bad weather?

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It’s not the City’s facility. It’s the County’s. The Dome is a unique facility and a separate County affiliated agency might be more appropriate running it than the several associated with the other facilities since each is protecitng their turf. I believe the County should continue to explore the use of this icon of stadiums for the public’s and not the private sector use.

I had a post last night but guess it was not acceptable for publishing.

Brian, maybe you don’t have a spot in your heart for the Astrodome, but many Houstonians do, and to tear it down simply because the Rodeo and the Texans need more party is right up there with one of the stupidest ideas I have ever heard. It is the first building of its type in the world, and one day we will learn not to tear things down just to build new ones. I can see many things that would work in the Astrodome, and I am thrilled that Judge Emmett is using some common sense and pursuing a solution to the problem instead of STANDING IN THE WAY of a solution like the Rodeo and the Texans do Way to go, Judge Emmett. Just hunker down and get er done!

I really like the Astrodome and have made many fond memories there; however, it’s time for it to go. It never was nor never will be the Coliseum. This isn’t a pair of 32 jeans you keep in the back of the closet hoping to fit in again; it’s a huge building with very expensive upkeep costs that never go away. I’d personally rather have it go now while it still has a little pride than seeing it condemned and falling in on itself in 10 more years. The great thing about festivals is being OUTSIDE. Moving them indoors will mean that instead of not attending when it’s raining, I won’t be attending at all.

I think they should make the dome into a par 3, nine hole golf course, using that new field turf like they have in football stadiums. It rains so much in Houston and during the summer it is so hot and humid, with tons of mosquitos. It would give people the option to play some golf during thundershowers and in sweltering heat. This would be a great attraction to the city. Imagine the world’s first indoor golf course(even though it would only be par 3′s and 9 holes long). Also this would generate revenue throughout the entire year instead of only at special events.

Moving festivals indoors? Wouldn’t that be the same as moving them to the George R. Brown? Doesn’t seem to be a good use of tax dollars. Maybe we should try to be a bit more innovative. I like the planetarium idea. Would have gone really well with Astroworld across the road. There is no real draw to that side of town. There needs to be more than just a giant planetarium. Casino/hotel would work, because it is the kind of place that can stand alone. Are people going to come to Houston to go to a planetarium? A planetarium with an indoor rollercoaster, laser tag, space mini-golf, giant moon bounce… and things like that. Maybe. Its worth a shot.

casino and small convention area on floor and hotel rooms and shops on upper floors. with train going past minute maid and george r. brown, you will attract more conventions for all of houston, and families coming from the surronding states [instead of our families goint there] can enjoy the astros during the summer plus galveston, nasa, and all the neat things houston has to offer. the joint would be jumping.

We need to sell the Dome to private interests and return the money to the taxpayers. Whatever project the government dreams up is going to end up being a boondoggle, with contrats directed towards political donors and the well-connected. And any refurbishment is almost certainly going to be accompanied by public financing, bond issuance, and higher taxes.

Remember when Ike blew giant chunks of the roof off the dome? Oh wait, that was the new stadium we paid for as an incentive for another NFL team. Remember when the new Reliant stadium was graciously used as sanctuary Katrina hurricane refugees? That didn’t happen either. What I’m trying to make clear to the “unused property is a useless property” types is that aside from being an icon that half the world knows, it is an asset and since it’s paid for, we should be hesitant to tear it down without a decent plan. Here’s a hypothetical: if Ike had been a class IV instead of III when it hit us LAST YEAR, we, Houston to Galveston would have needed a significant central staging area for victims(us) of the crisis, in which case the Dome would be golden…or we can do it Wall Street style, throw caution to the winds (pun intended) and make more parking.

One of the advantages to reserving the dome for public use would potentially be its availability as another hurricane evacuation center.

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The best reason yet to bulldoze the facility. If it will serve as a magnet for the dregs of New Orleans every time a hurricane hits that town, we would be FAR better off bulldozing the Dome and building a similar structure in Atlanta.

Just tear it down already. Even The Old Yankee Stadium is gone. Get over it. It’s just an old stadium which will never be successfully used in any other capacity. On the other hand I wish the Judge and his cohorts were more activist in preserving some of the few historic buildings and neighborhoods in the Houston-area.

Oh and by the way who cares what the HLS&R has to say. They should consider themselves lucky at all the sweetheart deals they already have with the county!

They should do with the dome what they originally planned – demolish that cursed building and make a parking lot out of the area it once covered. Until I can park my truck in a parking lot where that cursed building once stood, drink a beer whil tailgating before a game there and then releive myself on the cursed ground where the cursd building once stood – the Texans and Astors will never win a championship.

It seems we are doing exactly what needs to be done. Make no decision until the sentiment for the nostalgia for the Dome falls to a point that Houston is ready to tear it down. The already high cost of putting it back in use will continue to go up. Our politicians could have saved us all a lot of money by making the tough decisions but they are instead…letting us all “vent” and give input until we are ready for them to do what they have known needed to be done.

“A hotel and casino would be the best for Harris county taxpayers” McNair nor the rodeo would ever agree to this idea. They would have to compete for parking in a lot that they already have a monopoly on. They are both affraid that there would be more patrons and profits at the casino than would be interested in watching their product.

The original plans of converting the dome to a hotel and/or office building is the best option you have had so far. It makes the dome a revenue maker 24/7/365.

As for the HLSR and the Texans, contract would need to be written such that these two organizations would benefit tremendously from the renovations. Let’s say that when the Texans are playing a home game, 100% of the profits (after expenses) from the office building and hotel would be paid directly to the Texans. Also, during the entire month that the Rodeo is in town, all of the profits (again after expenses) would go to the Rodeo.

I don’t know of any organizations that would say no to free money like this. And then the county could benefit from the hotel/office building for the other 46 weeks of the year.

As for the festival venue idea, it has a potential if it is incorporated into the office building/hotel concept. If all of the current stadium seating area is converted to office area, the playing surface would still be free for multi function activities. When nothing is going on, the baseball field could be put down as an nice backdrop for hotel windows and office windows. If the HLSR needs it for a function, the field is rolled up and HLSR uses it for whatever. If a festival needs it, same rules apply.

So, while your festival idea may be a bad one on its own, it may be a feasible idea when combined with other good ideas.

Nature is (gradually) doing the job that no local politician is brave enough to take on. The grey moldy oldee lady will soon be in such a poor condition, forcing the County to demolish her because of safety concerns.

In it’s place should be a circular park with trees, fountains, statues of sports heroes and a baseball diamond within. We could leave some leftover concrete and steel as a memorial to the old Lady.

I think we should tear it down… and trade the land for another plot of land, either where the old Astroworld site is or nearby. Then, long-term lease the land to hotel/casino operators. This would provide additional hotel space, increase tourism, increase convention facilities, and add tax revenue.